Since bowling lanes are most commonly fabricated of wood or a laminated wood surface, they require daily treatment with an oil based conditioning material to prevent the heat generated by a bowling ball rolling along the bowling lane from scorching the surface thereof. The American Bowling Congress (ABC) requires the conditioner on the lane surface to be of approximately uniform distribution.
Lane conditioning material applied to a bowling lane surface may cause a bowling ball coming in contact with a heavily conditioned segment of the bowling lane to deviate from its normal path of travel. Certain bowling lane proprietors deliberately place a heavy build-up of lane conditioner on the bowling lane to thereby help direct a bowling ball into the pocket (the highest scoring area). Although this technique, known as "lane blocking", is improper, it is used by proprietors because it tends to raise scores above the level which skill alone would determine. By applying lane conditioning material in heavier concentrations at certain segments of the lane, while leaving other segments of the lane conventionally conditioned, a ball can be directed into the strike pocket at the most advantageous angle.
Prior to this invention, the methods used to determine and certify the profile of lane conditioning materials applied to a bowling lane surface were entirely subjective. Another problem with the previous methods of bowling lane certification were their inability to provide for inspection of the lane immediately after a high score had been bowled. And, unless bowling lanes are immediately inspected, proprietors are provided with sufficient time to change the profile of conditioning material before inspection by an ABC official.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide an analytical method and apparatus for analyzing and evaluating the thickness and distribution of conditioning material applied to the surface of a bowling lane.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for determining the profile of oil distribution applied to the surface of a bowling lane by using a photovoltaic measuring technique.
A commonly assigned application, filed simultaneously herewith, and entitled "Method and Apparatus for Transferring Conditioning Material on a Bowling Lane Surface" teaches a method and apparatus for transferring and permanently recording, onto an elongated sample strip, the profile of treated conditioning material applied to a bowling lane surface.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for determining the profile of treated conditioning material applied to the surface of a bowling lane by measuring the response of the treated lane conditioning material transferred onto the sample strip to ultraviolet light.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for determining the profile of treated conditioning material applied to the surface of a bowling lane by using a photovoltaic measuring technique which analyzes the response of a fluorescent additive with which the conditioning material is treated to ultraviolet light and correlates that response to the thickness and distribution of treated conditioning material applied to said lane surface.
These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art when read in conjunction with the detailed description of the drawings and the claims which follow.